Blackhawks: Patrick Sharp, Kevin Hayes Updates
On Wednesday night, Mark Lazerus at the Sun-Times posted a telling article quoting Patrick Sharp’s agent, Rick Curran. This quote from the article sums it up well:
“There’s no truth to any rumor that Patrick Sharp is available to trade,” Curran told the Sun-Times. “He absolutely is not available. I had a meeting with Stan Bowman a week ago to ask him what was going to happen. He said, ‘I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I can tell you that Patrick Sharp is not available right now.’ When the Sportsnet guy, Nick Kypreos, erroneously made a statement and everyone went crazy, I called Stan again. I asked, ‘Has anything changed?’ He said, ‘absolutely not.’ He’s full of [expletive].”
The Hockey News has an interesting piece up about Kevin Hayes, who the Blackhawks drafted in the first round in 2010. Here are the Cliff Notes from Brian Costello’s article:
“While the Blackhawks would like to sign him to a pro contract, they haven’t yet. It’s starting to look as though the Hayes camp is looking for another deal elsewhere. If Chicago doesn’t sign him by Aug. 15, he’ll become an unrestricted free agent… GM Stan Bowman has said he’ll continue to negotiate with Hayes’ agent, Robert Murray. But if the sense is Hayes is bound and determined to wait until Aug. 15 in order to make the jump to the NHL quicker, Bowman should trade his rights as soon as this weekend’s draft…The Hawks would love to retain this organizational asset. Hayes might have his own agenda.”
fwiw: Chicago would receive a second round compensation pick if Hayes walks as a free agent.
I’ll take on faith what Sharp’s agent says. Hayes? So incredibly sick of this selfish misguided prick. Hope Bowman moves him very quickly.
I agree with THN article, sucks for the Blackhawks but I understand what Hayes is thinking
So we’re keeping 10 and that means we’ll have a hard time fitting Kesler or Spezza under the cap unless unloading 27 + others with longer term $ implications (such as Kruger and/or Smith). In view of Oduya’s NTC, not sure anything of significance is going to happen.. Back to the “addition by subtraction” theory..
As for Hayes, no problem on my end. If he wants to play sooner and can get a big league contract/$ sooner I understand. I can also live with a 2nd rounder as comp as there is no assurance Hayes is going to be a top-6 guy in the show anyway..
F*&k Hayes. Kid doesn’t have enough confidence in himself that he can crack a great lineup-we don’t need him. Selfish bullshit. Go play with your two college buddies down in Calgary or your brother down in Florida. If he does decide to sign with the Hawks, he better be as good as he seems to think he is.
SB should wait out Hayes. He wants to be in the show this fall (It is hard to blame any player for that), he will have to go to a rebuilding team. That means our 2cd round pick in 2015 should be somewhere between 31 and 45. I think that the risk is worth holding his rights until Aug 15.
Hayes has been a bit immature to this point but I understand the $$ difference being in the show means on an EL contract.
ESPN Chicago’s Scott Powers wrote that the Hawks & Hayes’ camp will talk again soon. I don’t see a scenario where the Hawks trade his rights; I don’t see a scenario where a team gives up a top-50 pick next year for an unsigned prospect who had one good college season.
Hayes is just the benefactor of playing on a sick line in college. I am not so sold on him, but we will see what happens. Glad 10 stays. Love sharpie and his cap hit has a lot of bang for the buck. As far as this goes for the cap I think until we see what Kane and Toews get it is impossible to speculate who we can and cant fit in.
Sharp’s agent comes out guns a-blazing to shoot down the rumors that Sharp will be traded, but maybe even more likely to quash the whispers that there is more to the trade rumors than simply salary cap savings. Sharp’s earning potential off the ice is something his agent would be concerned with.
While I don’t think it’s surprising that the Hawks front office (PR machine) hasn’t commented on all the Sharp/trade talk – it is noteworthy. Sometimes there is smoke and the fire is never seen but more often than not there’s a cause and effect connection.
This is intriguing but probably not good for the team. The less of this type of drama, the better.
ER- Good point on the Hawks front office silence… I am sure that BOTH parties would prefer to avoid any of the Thornton type PR problems associated with a player unwilling to waive his NTC rights and remain as a potentially perceived unsupported and fan targeted problem child.
On an unrelated note, Bob McKenzie of TSN reported Kane and Toews initially asked for $12+ AAV. If this is true and they make $10/$11 million a year each, this dynasty as we know will be short lived. That could spell the end for Seabrook, Sharp, Oduya, and possibly Saad and Crawford in the future. There is no way the Hawks should even consider Kesler or Spezza if this is true. We all better hope Bowman’s prospects are as good as we all expect. The Hawks can only remain Stanley Cup bound if Cledening, Johns, TT, Ross, Danault, and another developed goalie can play well on cheap deals.
I hope to God they don’t take more $10 million a year. The difference between $10 or $12 could be a Bickell or potentially a Saad.
You are right on Frolik. These numbers are scary. I hope they take between 9-10 mill as the endorsesments alone they get are enormous, if not this is going to get ugly.
Its interesting to note that after Sharp’s agent went public with this, 2 news agencies contacted “the Hawks” who had NO COMMENT on trading Sharp. So while Sharp’s agent has spoken for the Hawks and Bowman, Bowman hasn’t actually said it himself yet…which I think is smart on Bowman’s part…as I have said before, I don’t think he will move Sharp, but let others think there is a possibility.
As for Hayes, I don’t think we will sign him at this point, as if you read the comments from his agent the “Hayes Camp” is very detached from the Hawk’s “needs” and are more than content to wait it out, as they “like their position”…and that means that if they have to, they will wait till 11:59pm to get the most money out of the Hawks with the best assurances. As others have commented, that’s not putting the Hawks team first, which Hayes clearly does NOT care about…but Tab, I still see a team out there that would be willing to give up a mid 2nd round pick to get Haye’s signing rights, so I still think a trade is “do-able”.
It’s worth noting that the Hawks have natural cap relief on their defense coming without even making a trade…
UFA’s 2015-16
Johnny Oduya – $3.375 Million / Replacement – Klas Dahlbeck – $613,333 (NHL pay)
Savings = $2,761,667
Michal Roszival – $2.2 Million / Replacement – Adam Clendening – $742,500 (NHL Pay)
Savings = $1,457,500
UFA 2016-17
Brent Seabrook – $5.8 Million / Replacement – Stephen Johns – $800k (NHL pay)
Savings = $5,000,000
Total Savings = $9,219,167 per year
Good point(s), HawksNation… but Johns-Seabrook isn’t going to happen for at least 12 more months.
But, with that being said, the new cap hits for 19 & 88 (and 20) wouldn’t kick in until 2015-16, when many expect the cap to be in the neighborhood of $75M.
I maintain what I’ve said all along: 8 years, $80M matching deals.
No comment from an organization about a rumor started by a media outlet? Stunning (shakes head)
re: finding a trade partner for Hayes – possible, yes. But if Hayes wants to go somewhere, odds are that organization would “somehow” find out his preference and could simply wait until he hits the market to sign him rather than dealing for exclusive negotiating rights for a month. I don’t see a want/need for a team to trade a 2nd for him. Most likely scenario is Bowman throws Hayes into another deal and there’s a conditional ’15 pick involved pending Hayes signs.
Of course all 3 of the replacements (Dahlbeck, Clendeningm Johns) will be RFA’s within a short time as well, so the savings of $9,219,167 per year will get whittled down to $7 Million or so. However JT & PK earn $6.3 Million right now, so if you take $6 million of that and split it between them that’s $9.3 Million AAV each, which would be a hometown “discount”.
..or like you said Tab, matching deals of 8 @ $80 Million which would be an addition of $3.7 Million for each or $7.4 Million total….just about the savings I said from the replacement D-men above.
That’s exactly right HawksNation…as Tab said, we might be looking at as much as 2 years for the Johns/Seabrook “trade” but its coming. This is why its important for that transition to start right now, tomorrow, with Oduya. He needs to be moved and at least Dahlbeck promoted this season to ensure this 3 player process is concluded within those 2 years. And the great thing is, it will make us a younger/better team IMO.
I’m down with the 8yr/80m.